Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres grew up idolizing Dian Fossey.

She pored through National Geographic magazines featuring the celebrated primatologist’s work with gorillas in Rwanda. She tore through her famous book Gorillas in the Mist. She mourned in 1985 when Fossey was murdered in her cabin.

Now, as DeGeneres turns 60, her wife, actress Portia de Rossi, surprised her with the most wonderful present.

The building of the Ellen DeGeneres Center of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund focused on education, research and tourism initiatives. De Rossi also set up the Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund.

The scope of the presents left the normally irreverent host temporarily speechless.

“When we got married, Portia’s line was, ‘It’s good to be loved. It’s profound to be understood. And she understands me,” DeGeneres said during her show. “Because that is the best gift anybody could have given me.”

There are perhaps 880 mountain gorillas left in the world.

Threatened by habitat destruction and poaching, the species is critically endangered.

“It’s impossible to overstate what this news means for us,” Tara Stoinski, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “We have continued Dian’s legacy for 50 years, and this new campus will serve as a brilliant focal point for our efforts protect wild gorillas over the next decades.”

We haven’t stopped crying tears of joy all day! We are incredibly grateful for this gift and so excited for what the future holds. #thanksellen#ellensavesgorillas

And DeGeneres is still almost at a loss for words.

I am proud, humbled, honored and deeply grateful to get to introduce you to my amazing new wildlife fund. “It’s good to be loved. It’s profound to be understood.” Thank you, Portia. https://t.co/KzllU43mkI